Public School Teachers Complete Yale Program

National Fellows and national seminar leaders during the Intensive Session at Yale University, July 2026.

NEW HAVEN, CT - Sixty-two public school teachers from eighteen school districts in twelve states, the Bureau of Indian Education, and the District of Columbia have completed national seminars and an Intensive Session as part of the Yale National Initiative to strengthen teaching in public schools®.

More than half of the National Fellows participated in national seminars for the first time. Forty-nine of the teachers, named Yale National Fellows, came from school districts that are planning or exploring the establishment of a new Teachers Institute for Anchorage, AK; Chicago, IL; Denver, CO; the District of Columbia; the Navajo Nation, AZ and UT; Pittsburgh, PA; Richmond, VA; San José, CA; Hearne and Bryan, Texas; and Tulsa, OK. Thirteen National Fellows came from Teachers Institutes located in New Castle County, DE; Philadelphia, PA; and New Haven, CT.

Led by Yale faculty, national seminars provide public school teachers with deeper knowledge of the subjects they teach and first-hand experience with the Teachers Institute approach to high-quality professional development. This fosters their leadership in an existing Teachers Institute or prepares them to lead the development of a new Teachers Institute.

Each National Fellow wrote a curriculum unit to teach their students about the seminar subject and to share with other teachers in their school district and on our website. The curriculum units implement academic standards of the teachers' school districts and assist the teachers in engaging and educating the students in their school courses.

The 2026 seminars, which began on May 1 and concluded in mid-August, were:

"Asian American History and the Making of the US Immigration System," led by Mary Lui, Professor of American Studies and History
"Asking Questions in Biology," led by Paul Turner, Rachel Carson Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
"Chemistry of Cooking," led by Gary Brudvig, Benjamin Silliman Professor of Chemistry
"Latinx Histories, Cultures, and Communities," led by Albert Laguna, Associate Professor of Ethnicity, Race & Migration and American Studies
"The Kids are not the Threat," led by Rod Ferguson, William Robertson Coe Professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and Professor of American Studies
"Resistance from Aristotle to Star Wars," led by Feisal Mohamed, Professor of English

National Fellows served as Coordinators for each seminar. The Coordinators were: Tina Berry of Tulsa, OK; Carol Boynton of New Haven, CT; Lauren Hughes of Pittsburgh, PA; Nancy Ibarra of Chicago, IL; Debra Jenkins of Hearne, TX; Tara McKee of Tulsa, OK; Amanda McMahon of Richmond, VA; Joseph Parrett of Delaware, and Valerie Schwarz of Richmond, VA.

Participants attended the Intensive Session on the Yale campus in July. Between July 6 and 17 National Fellows attended ten two-hour daily meetings of their seminars and met individually with their seminar leader.

The team from each location conferred with the Director of the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute and its National Initiative, Stephanie Reid, about the ways their experience in the national program strengthens their leadership in an existing Teachers Institute or prepares them to lead the establishment of a new Teachers Institute.

At the conclusion of the Intensive Session, Fellows who serve as teacher Representatives for the Initiative met to discuss the results of the Session and plans for the coming year. The teacher Representatives, who will lead the planning and implementing of Initiative activities locally and nationally in 2026-27, are:

Sandy Alvarez Perrine Punwani	District of Columbia Public Schools, Washington, D.C.
Nancy Ibarra	Chicago Public Schools, IL
Carol Boynton	New Haven Public Schools, CT
Lauren Freeman Hughes	Pittsburgh Public Schools, PA
Alima McKnight	The School District of Philadelphia, PA
Debra Jenkins	Hearne Independent School District, TX
Kristina Kirby	East Side Union High School District, San Jose, CA
Alyssa Lucadamo	Brandywine School District, DE
Tara McKee	Tulsa Public Schools, OK
Valerie Schwarz	Richmond Public Schools, VA
Jolene Smith	Kayenta Unified School District on the Navajo Nation, AZ

Superintendents will join the National Fellows when they return to Yale for the Annual Conference on November 6-7, 2026.

The Yale National Initiative to strengthen teaching in public schools® is a program of the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute. The Initiative supports the establishment of Teachers Institutes for high-poverty, high-minority school districts around the country that follow the model developed originally in New Haven and implemented now in other cities. Established through partnerships between universities and public school districts, Teachers Institutes offer content-based professional development for K-12 public school teachers through collegial seminars led by college or university faculty. Backed by rigorous evaluations over more than three decades, the Teachers Institute approach strengthens teaching, student engagement, and teacher retention. It also increases teachers' morale and enthusiasm, as well as their standards and expectations of their students.